Thursday, September 29, 2016

Preview: Nate Parker Anderson Cooper interviews director Nate Parker whose film "The Birth of a Nation" had generated a huge amount of Oscar buzz until an uproar grew over a serious incident in his past
Hollywood filmmaker Nate Parker will not apologize for the rape case he became embroiled in at college 17 years ago because, he tells Anderson Cooper, he was falsely accused and then vindicated in court. He also says it would be unfortunate if people stayed away from his new historical epic based on Nat Turner’s slave rebellion because of the incident. Parker’s film, “The Birth of a Nation,” had generated a huge amount of Oscar buzz until an uproar grew over the incident and it became widely known the woman who accused him killed herself in 2012. Parker speaks to Cooper on the next edition of 60 Minutes Sunday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Parker, who produced, directed, wrote and stars in the film based on the 1831 Virginia slave rebellion, says potential film goers shouldn’t be thinking about him. “I think that Nat Turner, as a hero, what he did in history, is bigger than me. I think it’s bigger than all of us.”
When Cooper asks him whether he thinks he did something morally wrong in 1999, he answers, “As a Christian man...just being in that situation, yeah, sure. I am 36 years old right now...my faith is very important to me...so looking back through that lens...it’s not the lens I had when I was 19 years old.”
Thirteen years after the accusation, in 2012, the woman, who 60 Minutes does not identify, killed herself. When asked if he had anything to apologize for, Parker, getting emotional, says, “I was falsely accused...I went to court...I was vindicated,” he says, “I feel terrible that this woman isn’t here...her family had to deal with that, but as I sit here, an apology is -- no.”
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3 comments:

Anderson started Thursday's 360 with news of a new Trump interview. It was Paul Stenhauser's interview of Trump done in a hallway somewhere and the starting topic was Trump's "very good" marital history. I don't know if that was the whole interview because I switched to Hayes. When I came back Anderson was talking with Jeff Zeleny about Hillary Clinton's campaign. When the panel of 5 started I left again.

Marriage, both Trump's 3 and Hillary's 1 was still the topic at the start of the next segment. In a clip Trump said he wouldn't talk about Hillary's marriage but actually he's talking about it plenty by saying he's not talking about it. A report went though Trump's three marriages but left out any mention of his bragging - in interviews and in print - of his numerous sexual liaisons. The panel here was Christine Quinn, Kaleith McEnany, Maggie Haberman and Ana Navarro. Too much time was spent by Quinn trying to make McEnany face reality and the panel should have been only Navarro and Haberman. I loved Navarro's comment 'I think you have to have a measure of physical fitness yourself before fat-shaming anyone else' and her disgust that this in getting attention instead of real policy issues. I also appreciated Anderson telling McEnany that Trump bringing in reporters to watch Alicia Machado exercise was not a 'celebration of fitness' and if it was why didn't Trump join her and exercise too?

I didn't see the start of the third segment focusing on Hillary's marriage and it's problems. I think it was Joe Johns who did the report.

Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, recent flub on not being able to name a foreign leader he liked, was all over other news programs yesterday. That clip was shown before starting Randi Kaye's interview with Libertarian Veep candidate Bill Weld. I didn't watch.

The last segment of the first hour was the *BREAKING NEWS* of the train crash in Hoboken NJ. Point one: if it was *BREAKING NEWS* why wait 54 minutes before covering it? Point two: why call it *BREAKING NEWS* if it's almost 12 hours old?

I didn't watch the second hour but hope during it Anderson covered Newsweek's brand new article on Trump looking to invest in Cuba in the late 1990s and sending employees there to check it out. That's illegal under the U.S. embargo. Trump scouted for a hotel/golf course investment opportunity under the disguise of charity. Maybe Anderson will get to this tomorrow, delayed reporting just like on Johnson and the 'former Mexican president'.

Trump is pretty stupid but is he stupid enough to hit Hillary Clinton with her husband's old affairs during the next debate when most of his advisors are begging him not to? It's a strategy that will definitely backfire given his own history of multiple marriages and infidelities. Chelsea Clinton said Trump has to resort to smear tactics since he's nearly incapable of being coherent on policy and barely has any policies to discuss at all.

Anderson usually treats K-Lee McE with undeserved deference but even he had to question whether she honestly believed what she was saying at one point during one of her nonsensical defenses of Trump.

Maybe I missed it but there was no mention of the big Newsweek Trump/Cuba bombshell article on 360--I hope they get to it on Friday--it's another instance of Trump lying about doing something illegal. If ANYONE is truly corrupt, it's him.

ANDERSON HAD AN EXCELLENT SHORT PANEL THIS FRIDAY EVENING WHICH FEATURED JEFF LORD AND MYFAV, ANA NAVARRO. ANDERSON ASKED JEFFEREY, POINT BLANK WHETHER HE THOUGHT IT WAS IN TRUMP'S BEST INTEREST TO KEEP THE ALICIA MACHADO CONTROVERSY ALIVE BY TWEETING ABOUT HER ALLEGED PORNTAPES, AT THREE IN THE MORNING. AC COULD NOT GET LORD TO ADMIT TRUMP WAS WRONG, BUT NAVARRO, BLESS HER HEART, SAID AND I QUOTE, "MELANIA NEEDS TO SMOOTHER TRUMP WITH A PILLOW," IN ORDERTO MAKE HIM STOP TWEETING A 3 AM IN THE MORNING. THAT IT WASN'T AT ALL PRESIDENTIAL.EVEN AC AGREED THAT NO PRESIDENT, WITH ALL THE PRESSING ISSUES OF THE PRESIDENCY, SHOULD BE TWEETING ABOUT PORN. I COULDN'T STOP LAUGHING AT ANA'S COMMENT ABOUT THE PILLOW!@ATA TEAM: THIS WOULD BE A VERY ENTERTAINING CLIP FOR READERS TO SEE. IT WAS IN THE SECOND SEGMENT THE FIRST PANEL.HILLARY WEIGHED IN AS WELL DURING ONE OF HER CAMPAIGNS SAYING "HE JUST CAN'T LET THINGS GO."NO, PRESIDENT JACK ASS KEEPS ON PROVING HOW QUALIFIED HE IS, OVER AND OVER. THERE IS SOMETHING REALLY "MENTALLY UNBALANCED" ABOUT HIS INABILITY TO LET THINGS SLIDE. HE REALLY NEEDS TO SEE A SHRINK! (REAL INSIGHT HERE ABOUT TRUMP'S INSTABILITY AND LACK OF JUDGEMENT.)